Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium

by Jessie H. Bancroft

SARDINES

10 to 30 or more players.

Playground; house party.

This is a game of hide and seek that reverses some of the usual methods of playing the game. The player chosen to be It, instead of blinding goes out himself to hide, while all of the other players stay at the goal. While one of their number counts one hundred, they must all either blind their eyes or be shut in one room to give the hider a fair chance. After counting, they shout "One hundred!" and all start out to hunt for the hider. Any player discovering him must, after making sure that none of the others observe him, hide in the same place with the hider. If necessary, he must linger near until there is opportunity to do this without being discovered. If there should not be room to hide in the same place, the finder must take a seat in plain sight near the hiding place. Sometimes a large number of players will be seated in a room or in a group out of doors, while the last unfortunate hunters try to locate some clever hiding place which is obviously near but hard to detect. Of course it is better for the players to actually hide with the first hider, if practicable, which probably suggested, on occasion, being "packed in like sardines."

This is one of the most interesting house party games for young people for either out of doors or within.

SCHOOLROOM TAG

10 to 60 players.

Schoolroom.

A circle about three feet in diameter is drawn on the floor in the front of the room and serves as a goal. One player is chosen to be It, and stands ten feet from the goal. The other players sit at their desks. The one who is It calls the name of some player, who must at once rise and try to run through the goal and return to his seat without being tagged. In order to do this, he may have to make quite a detour before passing through the goal, or he may be able to run through it at the opening of the chase. The chaser must also run through the goal before he may tag the runner. If the chaser succeeds in tagging the runner, he continues to be chaser, and calls the name of another player to run. If the runner gets to his seat without being tagged, he changes places with the other and becomes It.

This game is printed with the kind permission of the Alumni Association of the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics, from the book entitled One Hundred and Fifty Gymnastic Games.